Causes of the 1905 Revolution

Question 1

reasons for long term discontent

Answer 1

alienated intelligentsia
revolutionaries
national minorities
peasants
workers

Question 2

government policy factors

Answer 2

tsarist regime

wit’s economic policy

Question 3

catalyst

Answer 3

outbreak of the russo-japanese war

Question 4

spark!

Answer 4

Bloody Sunday

Question 5

what did revolution mean

Answer 5

tsar now at war with his own people

strikes, peasant uprisings, petitions, riots throughout 1905

Question 6

what was the issue for the intelligentsia

Answer 6

wanted some form of elected National Assembly

students protested against repressive government controls

Question 7

what was the issue for the revolutionaries

Answer 7

SRs wanted a peasant revolution to create socialism based around peasant communes
SDs wanted the urban working classes to stage revolution to create a socialist state, and then communism

Question 8

what was the issue for national minorities

Answer 8

finns, poles, jews
wanted an end to the policy of russification
wanted more independence

Question 9

what was the issue for the peasants

Answer 9

grievances included poverty, need for more land, high taxes withth redemption payments on land
suffered periodic famines
increasing population put more pressure on land

Question 10

what was the issue for the workers

Answer 10

grievances included long working hours, low pay and horrific living conditions
wanted more political power

Question 11

what was the issue with the tsarist regime

Answer 11

weak, indecisive tsar
repressive government

no moves towards a constitutional government
denied basic freedoms, eg. free press and a right to from political parties

Question 12

what was the issue with witte

Answer 12

under wit’s industrialisation policy, peasants and workers were squeezed very hard by high indirect taxes and low wages
economic slump after 1900 led to high unemployment and social tensions in towns
poor harvests in 1900 and 1902 led to starvations and violence in the countryside

Question 13

what happened in the russo-japanese war

Answer 13

February 1904
defeats on land and at sea shocked the Russian public
January 1905- Russia lost port Arthur- an ice free port in Manchuria which the Japanese had marked out as part of their policy for economic expansion
the war caused food and fuel shortages
huge wave of discontent as the tsar an this government were perceived as incompetent

Question 14

what happened on bloody Sunday

Answer 14

9th January 1905
father Gabon led a strike of over 100000 workers
had a petition calling for any 8 hour working day, minimum wages and more dignified treatment
wasn’t aggressive and didn’t attack the tsar- simply pleading to their ‘father’ to help them
as they approached the winter palace, they were charged by cavalry ad troops opened fire on them
between 300-500 seriously wounded or killed